US OFFICIALS MEET TALIBAN IN QATAR TO DISCUSS AFGHAN PEACE TALKS

 

     Kabul, 10 Sha’ban 1434/19 June 2013 (MINA) –  U.S. officials will meet with the Taliban representatives in the near future in a bid to resume peace talks for a peaceful settlement to the war in Afghanistan, reports said.

     Senior Obama administration officials on Tuesday (18/6) said U.S. officials and Taliban group representatives will hold talks in Doha, capital of Qatar where a Taliban liaison office was opened, the Khaama Press reported as monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

      “This is a key milestone on the way to the complete transition of responsibility for security to Afghans by the end of next year,” a senior U.S. administration official said anonymously quoted by NBC News.

      This will be first direct talks between U.S. officials and Taliban group representatives after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on ending the decade long war in Afghanistan.

         Another U.S. official insisted that peace talks with Taliban will have to be led by Afghans and the American government will have a role in direct talks.

      The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, said U.S. representatives will begin formal meetings with the Taliban in Qatar in a few days.

         But President Barack Obama cautioned that the process won’t be quick or easy. He described the opening of a Taliban political office in the Gulf nation of Qatar as an important first step toward reconciliation between the Islamic fighters and the government of Afghanistan, and predicted there will be bumps along the way.

          “It’s good news. We’re very pleased with what has taken place,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Washington, the CTV News in Canada reports.

          British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose country has the second-largest contingent of troops in Afghanistan after the U.S., called opening the office in Doha “the right thing to do.”

          The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, said the only way to end the war was through a political solution. (T/P09/P03)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)